Showing results by narrator "Laura Kirman" in All Categories

When Alec asks Jess out, she knows it won't work. He may be charming and handsome, but Jess has rules. And the first? Don't fall in love. Jess has inherited Huntington's disease from the mother that she cares for. Falling in love would just mean condemning someone to the heartbreak that she feels every day, as she watches the woman she knew and loved slip further and further away. Jess has learnt to keep everyone and everything at arm's length, but Alec is determined to break down her barriers.

England, 1811: When Elizabeth Trelawny flees London, she has more than one reason to run. And when her carriage, pursued by her would-be fiancé, is caught in a storm, she quickly accepts the help of a dark stranger. ABut Rowan Curnow is not exactly a stranger. He’s not quite a gentleman either. Class disparity once kept him from courting Elizabeth, even if it didn’t keep him from kissing her. The couple elude their pursuers and reach Bastion Point, Elizabeth’s future inheritance. But in the very act of spiriting her to safety, Rowan has jeopardized Elizabeth’s inheritance

Lizzy Darcy’s spring house party is becoming a Pemberley tradition and this year Lizzy will have the pleasure of all her sisters’ company. She is apprehensive at the thought of her mother, Mrs Bennett and the formidable Lady Catherine De Burgh being at Pemberley at the same time especially, as there is to be an exciting announcement from Lizzie’s sister Kitty. Richard Turner, recently promoted to the rank of major, plans to propose to Kitty during the course of the party.

Daisy’s perfectly content with her life. She’s got a job she likes, a nice enough flat, and in a relationship with childhood best friend Adam. She’s got used to the lack of fireworks – after all, you can’t put a price on friendship being the foundation of everything. But they say you never forget your first, and Daisy has never forgotten how she felt that one summer with Zach - one electrifying, yet slightly embarrassing fumble in the dark. The catch? Zach was also her and Adam's best friend growing up. Now he’s back, after making his fame in Hollywood.

Lucy Alling makes a living selling rare books, often taking suspicious liberties to reach her goals. When her unorthodox methods are discovered, Lucy’s secret ruins her relationship with her boss and her boyfriend, James - leaving Lucy in a heap of hurt and trouble. Something has to change; she has to change. In a sudden turn of events, James’s wealthy grandmother, Helen, hires Lucy as a consultant for a London literary and antiques excursion. Lucy reluctantly agrees and soon discovers Helen holds secrets of her own.

It should have been a time of romance and excitement for Anne - but it's 1941 and the war is raging. So instead, she spends her days repairing spitfire wings and reminding herself that the real sacrifice is going on far away from her Cornish village. When the news breaks that America has entered the war, jeeps filled with GIs eventually roll in, and it seems their little community is to play a pivotal role in the next stage of the fight. But the Americans don't just bring Hollywood glamour and optimism, they also bring something more tantalising.

Belgium, July 1939: Simone Lyon is the daughter of a Belgium national hero, the famous General Joseph Lyon. Her best friend Hava Daniels, is the eldest daughter of a devout Jewish family. Despite growing up in different worlds, they are inseparable. But when, in the spring of 1940, Nazi planes and tanks begin bombing Brussels, their resilience and strength are tested. Hava and Simone find themselves caught in the advancing onslaught and are forced to flee.

Can a little Cornish village panto convince a troubled Hollywood heart throb to act again? Oh no it won't! At least that's what Zach Broussard initially thinks when the eccentric Anna Teague tries to railroad him into helping out with her community pantomime production in the run-up to Christmas. Zach has his reasons for leaving Hollywood behind, and his retreat to the remote village of Polcarne in Cornwall signals the start of a new acting free life for him.

Aware that some people consider her unworthy of the title Mrs Darcy, Lizzy is determined to prove her detractors wrong by throwing a magnificent house party at her new home, Pemberley. Nothing can possibly go wrong…can it? Miss Caroline Bingley is quite determined to rescue Darcy from his reckless marriage. Convinced he must now regret his choice, she finds an unlikely ally in George Wickham who also wishes to avenge Lizzy, albeit for a very different reason. If Darcy were to find his ‘fine-eyed’ wife in a compromising position with Wickham of all people, he would surely never forgive her.

When Joanne Lefson took on a piglet at her animal shelter, the young sow proceeded to eat everything in her stable but a paint brush. In a flash of inspiration, Joanne attempted to introduce the pig to the art of painting - and thus Pigcasso was born. Starting out with a humble canvas on the sanctuary wall, Pigcasso's paintings are now owned by the likes of George Clooney, she has a Swatch watch design partnership, a wine label, and has eclipsed the previous world record holder for animal art.

After fleeing her hometown three years earlier, Alyssa Harrison never planned to return. Then the Silicon Valley start-up she worked for collapsed and turned her world upside down. She is broke, under FBI investigation, and without a place to go. Having exhausted every option, she comes home to Winsome, Illinois, to regroup and move on as quickly as possible. Yet, as friends and family welcome her back, Alyssa begins to see a place for herself in this small Midwestern community.

Lady Morwenna Trelawny Penvenan indulged in her fair share of dalliances in her youth, but now that she's the widowed mother to the heir of the Penvenan title, she's desperate to polish her reputation. When she's accused of deliberately luring ships to crash on the rocks to steal the cargo, Morwenna begins an investigation to uncover the real culprits and stumbles across an unconscious man lying in the sea's foam - a man wearing a medallion with the Trelawny crest around his neck.

After studying art under Miss Drake, a renowned painter, Phoebe Radcliff is certain she can finally move beyond the childish mistake that’s kept her away from home. She is thrilled when Miss Drake employs her to complete a complicated ballroom renovation. Everything changes, however, the moment Miss Drake is murdered. With her last breath she imparts the location of a clue to Phoebe. Can the biggest secret of Avonthorpe Hall be true? Phoebe is tasked to finish her work in the ballroom by Miss Drake’s infuriatingly regimented yet all-too-handsome nephew, Lt. Graham Burke.

I was winning until I met your gaze... Gambling at the roulette tables of the Kursaal, Gwendolen Harleth glances up to meet Daniel Deronda's arresting stare. Striking, selfish and wilful, she is at that moment the mistress of her destiny. Thirty years on, the flawed heroine and true protagonist of Eliot's last great novel writes her confessional to the man whose ever-imagined gaze has prevailed throughout her life.

Olivia has never experienced a snow-covered, 'traditional' Christmas before. Having grown up in a family that chose winter sun over decking the halls, she’s not sure what all the fuss is about. So when she and her colleagues are stranded in New York after a work trip, Olivia is happy spending the holiday season in the Big Apple. Jon, on the other hand, is desperate to get home in time. But, he sets out to show Olivia how enchanting Christmas can be. And when handsome New Yorker Elijah is added to the mix, could the magic of the season finally be working its charm on Olivia?

When Willow Lake asks her daughters for help renovating the family home, each has a reason to hesitate about returning to Maplewood. For quiet and bookish Emmy, going back to the town that ridiculed her fills her with dread. The youngest, Noelle, is perfectly comfortable in herself now but once wanted to fit in so badly that she walked away from her first love. A first love who still lives in Maplewood. And outspoken Rae is painfully aware of how much the townspeople hurt her little sisters growing up.

When Lord Peregrine Sheldon, an intelligence officer for Wellington, is reported missing, presumed dead, his family and friends in England fear he is lost to them forever. Unbeknownst to everyone, Perry is alive, but has been seriously injured in a fall and is unable to see. He also has no notion of who he is, or what he is doing in the foothills of the Spanish mountains. He is a stranger to himself in a strange land. His only comfort is his beautiful rescuer, Sofia, an English girl living in a Spanish hill village. Sofia takes Perry to her mother's home where she nurses him back to health.

Tired of being at everyone’s beck and call, Beau, the Duke of Silchester decides to masquerade as plain Mr Edward Sheldon for a few months in order to pursue his love of composing and playing piano music. At five and thirty he is convinced he will never marry but all this changes when he meets Lady Viola Fenchurch and her delightful children. Viola, a widow, is equally convinced that she will never remarry after enduring an abusive marriage. She isn’t looking for love, but despite her reservations she finds herself falling in love with Beau.

Ruby Brooks is a little sceptical when her horoscope say she’s going to have a fabulous year – especially when she loses a boyfriend and a job in quick succession. So, Ruby takes luck and fate into her own hands with an unusual resolution – she’ll enter 10 competitions a day, whether they’re for her dream Japanese holiday or a year’s supply of dog food (she doesn’t have a dog), and win her way to happiness. But when a Valentine’s Day prize from a local restaurant results in chef Adam Finder (and his dog, Brutus) appearing in her life, is that luck or fate?

Former Olympic skating champion Katie Saunders is well known for her ‘ice queen’ persona in the press. Perhaps Katie should have forgiven her former skating partner and ex-boyfriend, Alex Michaelson, for the accident that shattered both her ankle and their Olympic dreams - but she just can’t seem to let it go. Desperate for cash, Katie, reluctantly agrees to take part in a new TV skating show, but not only is she partnered up with an infamous love-rat rugby player, but one of the judges is none other than Alex Michaelson himself.